Charlotte Mew

1869-1928

Charlotte Mew was educated at University College , London. Her father died in 1898 without making adequate provision for his family; two of her siblings suffered from mental illness and three others died in early childhood. Charlotte and her sister, Ane, made a pact never to marry for fear of passing on insanity to their children. Through most of her adult life Charlotte wore masculine attire and kept her hair short. After the death of her sister in 1927 she became deeply depressed, committing suicide in 1928.

As Tim Kendall notes

Mew seems to me to be scandalously underappreciated. Hers is a narrow achievement – only one book appeared during her lifetime – but at her best she bears comparison with any of her contemporaries.

Mew wrote three poems explicitly addressing the Great War, the best known of the three being ‘The Cenotaph’.